• Amazon has launched MLB.TV on Prime Video Channels, allowing Prime members to subscribe to MLB.TV and stream regular season out-of-market baseball games live and on-demand, all from the Prime Video service.

• WWE said it would move its global headquarters to a new office complex in Stamford, Conn, where WWE is now headquartered, to “allow the company to bring together its operations, including its production studios and corporate offices at its new site.” The move is expected to take place in early 2021.

• “Inspired by the intersection of past and future,” Foot Locker is launching the Discover Your Air Network, featuring “cable network-inspired programming for the ultimate sneakerhead” filled with Nike Air Max content, news and product. People will be able to view DYA Network content on Foot Locker's Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat channels.

•NBA2K League has unveiled the match-ups and tournaments for the second season, with $1.2M prizes Begins 4-2.

• ESPN and UFC have extended their deal, naming ESPN+ as the exclusive distributor of UFC Pay-Per-View events in the U.S. through 2025, beginning with UFC 236: Holloway vs. Poirier 2 on April 13. UFC’s alliance with ESPN, which began in January, also has been extended through 2025

• MLB and the MLB Players’ Assn. have unveiled numerous changes to the game to be installed over the next two seasons that will impact game length, marketing broadcast partners, the All-Star Game and the Home Run Derby. Full story here.

May 24, 2017: Even with opinions to the contrary, the NBA has decided the time was right to return to Charlotte, awarding the 2019 All-Star Game to the city, home to the Charlotte Hornets.

The game and events are scheduled for Feb. 15-17, 2019, in Spectrum Center.

“For three decades, the NBA has had a home in Charlotte," Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, said in a statement unveiling the decision. "Generations of families have attended games there, and fans from many different walks of life have come together to share a passion for a team that is an anchor in the community."

The NBA planned to hold the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte but switched the game and surrounding events to New Orleans due to North Carolina’s controversial House Bill 2, which impacted anti-discrimination protections for the LGBT community.

The NCAA also pulled events out of the state due to the HB2 bill, but last month said it would again plan championship events in North Carolina after an amended HB2 bill was passed by state legislators.

The loss of the 2017 All-Star Game, NCAA events, concerts and business moves cost the state more than $2.6 billion, per industry analysts.

According to Silver, "While we understand the concerns of those who say the repeal of HB2 did not go far enough, we believe the recent legislation eliminates the most egregious aspects of the prior law.

"Additionally, it allows us to work with the leadership of the Hornets organization to apply a set of equality principles to ensure that every All-Star event will proceed with open access and anti-discrimination policies."

Silver said that all venues, hotels and businesses the league plans to work with during All-Star week "will adhere to these policies as well."

However, according to Chase Strangio, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union LGBT & HIV Project, "The HB2 replacement, House Bill 142, is no repeal — it is just a slightly restructured version of the same discriminatory mandates of its predecessor and once again singles out trans people for discrimination in both rhetoric and law . . .

"Showing just how quickly the defense of civil rights collapsed in the name of profit, the NBA and the NCAA have now further opened the door to new waves of discrimination in North Carolina and across the country," Strangio recently wrote on the ACLU Web site.

In an editorial last month when House Bill 142 was approved, the Charlotte Observer wrote, "House Bill 142 literally does not do one thing to protect the LGBT community and locks in HB2’s most basic and offensive provision. It repeals HB2 in name only and will not satisfy any business or organization that is truly intolerant of an anti-gay environment and of a state that codifies discrimination.”

Happy to see the All-Star Game to Charlotte was Michael Jordan, basketball Hall of Famer and chairman and majority owner for the Hornets.

"(We will) work with the Hornets to apply a set of equality principles to ensure every All-Star event proceeds with open access and anti-discrimination policies."

"We want to thank commissioner Silver for his leadership throughout this process and for the decision to bring NBA All-Star back to Buzz City," Jordan said in a statement. "All-Star Weekend is an international event that will provide a tremendous economic impact to our community while showcasing our city, our franchise and our passionate Hornets fan base to people around the world.

"We look forward to serving as hosts for NBA All-Star 2019 and welcome all visitors and guests to Spectrum Center," said Jordan.

Concurred Fred Whitfield, president and COO for the Hornets, in a video posted to the team’s Web site, "It meant a lot that commissioner Silver really thought through the whole process and felt like, as a community, as a city, as a team, that we have put fourth our best effort in trying to be awarded the 2017 game.

"So for he and his team to allow us to claim the game back in 2019 and put our site on a global stage, which is something we worked so hard to do when we were awarded the 2017 game, it speaks volumes about our league and about the owners in the league who were supportive of the game coming back in 2019," said Whitfield.

"Sports have a long history of helping to change attitudes around important social issues," said Silver. "We believe holding our All-Star activities in Charlotte will be a powerful way for the NBA to continue this tradition."